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Wind power is Scotland's fastest growing renewable energy technology, with 5328 MW of installed capacity as of March 2015. This includes 5131 MW of onshore wind and 197 MW of offshore wind.〔(Department of Energy & Climate Change )〕 Whitelee Wind Farm near Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire is the largest onshore wind farm in the United Kingdom with 215 Siemens and Alstom wind turbines, and a total capacity of 539 MW.〔(Whitelee Wind Farm website )〕 Clyde Wind Farm near Abington, South Lanarkshire is the UK's second largest onshore wind farm comprising 152 turbines with a total installed capacity of 350 MW.〔(SSE Clyde Wind Farm website )〕 There are many other large onshore wind farms in Scotland, at various stages of development, including some that are in community ownership. Robin Rigg Wind Farm in the Solway Firth is Scotland's only commercial-scale, operational offshore wind farm. Completed in 2010, the farm comprises 60 Vestas turbines with a total installed capacity of 180 MW.〔(Robin Rigg Wind Farm website )〕 Scotland is also home to two offshore wind demonstration projects: The two turbine, 10 MW Beatrice Demonstrator Project located in the Moray Firth, and the single turbine, 7 MW Fife Energy Park Offshore Demonstration Wind Turbine in the Firth of Forth. There are also several other commercial-scale and demonstration projects in the planning stages.〔(Marine Scotland - Current Marine Renewable Energy Projects )〕 The siting of turbines is often an issue, but multiple surveys have shown high local community acceptance for wind power in Scotland.〔〔 There is further potential for expansion, especially offshore given the high average wind speeds, and a number of large offshore wind farms are planned. The Scottish Government has a target of generating 50% of Scotland's electricity from renewable energy by 2015, and 100% by 2020, which was raised from 50% in September 2010.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Target for renewable energy now 80 per cent )〕 The majority of this is likely to come from wind power.〔(Europe's Largest Onshore Wind Farm Is Switched on in Scotland ) ''Renewable Energy World'', 20 May 2009.〕 ==Offshore Wind Farms== Scotland's first offshore wind turbine was placed near the Beatrice Oil Field, off the east coast in the Moray Firth, North Sea, in August 2006. This was the world's largest wind turbine at the time, an REpower 5M, with a maximum output of 5 MW. A second identical turbine joined it and the wind farm began supplying electricity in August 2007.〔(Beatrice Wind timeline )〕 As of February 2010, Beatrice Wind Farm is the deepest and northernmost offshore wind installation in the world.〔("Beatrice is currently the northernmost and deepest offshore wind farm in the world" )〕 This was the first time such large offshore wind turbines had been tested, and the first time any wind turbine generators have been assembled in such deep (44 metres) water.〔(World's Largest Wind Turbine Generator )〕 Such large wind turbine generators are ideally suited to the offshore environment due to high consistent wind speeds and minimal turbulence. According to historical measures of wind speeds at the Beatrice offshore location, it is expected that the turbines will run 96% of the time (8440 hours per year), and at 10 MW full power 38% of the time (3300 hours per year).〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Wind power in Scotland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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